How to stop a Hydrangea macrophylla from flopping

Hello all

I hope you are well.

I have a Hydrangea Macrophylla that is finding it difficult to keep its branches off the ground due to the weight of the flowers.

What is the best way to support a Hydrangea Macrophylla which is approximately 1.5m x 1.5m?

Thanks in advance

Kevin

 

Hello, Kevin. I used to use some wire fencing around my Annabelle Hydrangeas, which also displayed similar issues. I found it was best to add this during the winter as there were no leaves to block the view and I could see the internal stem "structure" of the plant and place the wire closer and in better locations. But fencing is something that can be done at any time of course. I do have a habit nowadays of taking a look at the dormant plant during winter and tweaking the wires due to new stem growth, etc.

I like to get dark green colored wire fences that eventually get "swallowed" and hidden by all the leaves. Select a height that seems appropriate. Put it around the plant, very close to the stems and "adjust" the fence closer or further away from the stems. Like when one tightens a belt around the waist. If still flopping, move the fencing closer to the center of the stems, as if tightening the belt around your waist. Repeat until you get a look that is "acceptable" to you. I find that starting this fencing in the middle of the growing season does not look as good as when I start the fencing before leaf out time... but, that is just my opinion.

You can also strategically cut a few blooms to help with flopping or somehow protect the blooms from getting wet or from getting too much wind but that usually requires transplanting though.

Big Daddy is a mophead variety that has a propensity for flopping because of its big blooms. Which variety do you have (if you know)?

I do not recommend completely pruning stems because they get replaced by new stems. And new stems are weaker. As the stems get older, they become more woody and can handle more weight without a lot of bending. So I prefer to keep older, woodier stems. But there are limits to that, of course; sometimes the stems will bend too much and not straighten (or break) so, I understand..., you do have to prune woody ones at times... In those cases, I get cuttings and start new plants for myself, for someone else or for a garden club sale.

With Annabelle, I once planted a second Annabelle close to another Annabelle to see if each one would "help" the other not flop as much. In the center of the "combined" bushes, that helped but, not in the periphery.

I have seen some people who used low fences also use a stake and green strings as a support system, tucked in close under the branches so that, as the plant leafs out and grows, the supports are hidden. Their Annabelle was also wedged in between a large rhododendron and a spirea that help prop it up, so the Annabelle looks OK even after several pounding rains and a hailstorm the prior day. Of course, just a string would be the quickest way. Buy a tall enough fence stake, pound it in the ground behind the plant with a sledge hammer or whatever; then do an inner and outer lasso. You can also lasso to a fence or structure if one exists.

For sure, a single specimen in an "unsheltered", windy location will probably suffer more flopping. As the stems get older and woodier, this may not continue being a problem for long.

 

Hello @luis_pr

Thanks for the reply.

I believe the Hydrangea is 'Preziosa' but I am not 100% sure, I have another one, new, which is definitely 'Preziosa'.

Once the weather improves again I shall look into my options, following your advice.

Thanks

Kevin

 

Preziosa is a very good choice. I believe it is also the winner of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit years ago. It is somewhat compact (as far as hydrangeas can be compact) because it is a mountain hydrangea hybrid (hydrangea serrata)... so it is not exactly a "perfect" hydrangea macrophylla. I saw one growing in more shade and liked the look there. You may like it going through the color changes from light pink to darker shades of pink through the Fall. I seem to think that the ones I have seen also show a red coloration on the stems but I am no longer sure. You should be able to get blooms of different shades of colors as the growing season progresses. Be aware that this plant is a hybrid between macrophylla and serrata and in rare cases, its flower form can vary between mophead (all sterile flowers) and lacecap (mixed fertile and sterile flowers). The serrata lineage causes the foliage coloring to sometimes be reddish if it is located in lots of sun in the Fall. Enjoy.

 

@Kevin Cowans
A picture of my "Preziosa"